The Cobblers came away from the Liberty Stadium empty handed after a goal either side of half time kept Swansea's playoff push rolling on.
I was in the middle of my weekender in Port Talbot and it was nice to be able to wake up and go to an away game that was just up the road from my lodgings! I had time to look around Swansea before hand and take a stroll along the beach where a Swans fan stopped me in my tracks and said something to me about the game but his thick accent drowned out any chance of a decent conversation between us. I just agreed with what he said and went on my merry way!
I decided to walk to the ground seeing as though I had time on my hands and found it easily, taking the scenic route through a field and down by the river, taking in the calm before my first game since Forest away last month. The new Liberty Stadium is impressive from the outside but seemed more compact than it looked once inside the 20,000 capacity stadium. There was never any chance of it matching the feel and atmosphere of the old Vetch Field and it was nowhere near as intimidating. On the pitch, Stuart Gray stuck to the same side that saw off Bradford last week and the Cobblers made the brighter start to the game. A free kick was won thirty yards from the home sides' goal and images of Wembley came flooding back!
It turned out to be an even better free kick than the one that beat Swansea ten years ago. Bradley Johnson curled a fantastic shot past the stranded Willy Gueret and into the top corner to give us a sixth minute lead and to hand Johnson his fourth goal of the season. Swansea replied but were frustrated by a stern Cobblers defence until Andy Robinson forced Mark Bunn into a fine save with a curling effort mid-way through the half. Referee Keith Stroud decided to add on three minutes at the end of the first half and that proved crucial as the equaliser came with the last kick of the half. The ball fell to giant defender Dennis Lawrence on the edge of the area and his powerful effort beat Bunn down to his right.
Frustrated at half time we headed for a quick drink in the bar behind the stand, where they were showing the game live on the TV screens. We weren't the only Town fans who had to witness the third goal of the game on the TV's rather than in the ground! A flowing move by the home side ended with Robinson smashing the ball home at the far post before half the Cobblers fans had taken their seats! In fact, I bet a few people didn't see either Swansea goals go in!From then on, we struggled to get back into the game and Stuart Gray gambled by bringing on new boy Simon Cox for his debut for Jason Crowe and switching to 4-3-3. It was refreshing to see a Cobblers manager going for it after too many years of watching us settle for single goal defeats. Cox's first touch was a golden opportunity to pull us level.
Gueret looked stranded as the ball flashed past him and all that Cox seemingly had to do was poke the ball over the line but a defender got in the way to somehow deflect the ball over the bar. Swansea threatened on the break and the impressive Leon Britton and Andy Robinson were stretching us on the counter attack, with makeshift right back Alex Pearce struggling to come to terms with his new position.
The home side looked the most likely to add to their score and only a brilliant last ditch tackle from Chris Doig prevented Darryl Duffy from scoring on his debut.There was no way back for the Cobblers though and it was a disappointing way to lose out after a game that started so brightly. But once again the class and power of a team challenging for promotion was too much for us and we can see how far we have to go to be able to be at the right end of the table ourselves.
The good news is that with other teams below us not picking up points we stay eight points clear of the relegation zone and as long as that remains the case for the rest of the season I'll be happy!Winning next weekend's Sixfields clash with Brighton will go a long way to seeing us to safety…I just hope it's a better game than the dire one on the south coast back in October!
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